PAT Test Regulations
IEE Code of Practice for In-service Inspection
and Testing of Electrical Equipment
Health & Safety at Work Act
Duties on employers
Duties on employees
- Duties on employers
- Duties on employees
What does this mean??
It is for the accused brought to the court under this act to show that "all reasonable practicable care" or in some cases absolute care has been taken. The demonstration of this is often the difference between an employer proving employee negligence or sustaining substantial fines, even personal prosecutions when he/she is unable to do so. And remember your insurance does not cover you breaking the law!!
Electricity@Work Regulation 89
Memorandum of guidance
"A requirement to maintain electrical systems"
- Memorandum of guidance
- A requirement to maintain systems
The H.S.E. memorandum of guidance on the Electricity @ Work Regulation (H.S(R)25) goes on to define all systems, duties, maintenance etc and provides commerce and industry with a series of guidelines which are accepted generally in Law as being definitive... In essence this requires of the employer etc. to inspect and electrically test on a regular basis and keep maintained electrical portable appliances...
Provision and Use of Work
Equipment Regulation
Duty to properly equip all operatives
Duty to ´Risk Assess´ all work equipment
Duty to minimise Risk by ´Control Measure´
Duty to train operatives
Duty to effectively maintain all work equipment
Generally..
PUWER remakes the previous regulations from PUWER 92, together with new requirements for inspection (reg 6) and mobile work equipment (regs 25-30) and replacement requirements for power presses (regs 31-35);
PUWER covers most risks that can result from the use of work equipment and from the use of mobile work equipment; and covers all work sectors, apart from ship's equipment.
Work equipment is broadly defined and covers a very wide range of equipment, both power-operated and manually-operated.
The Regulations came broadly into force on 5 December 1998. Together with three ACoPs and guidance (covering respectively work equipment, woodworking machinery and power presses) PUWER 98 has replaced the earlier industry or process-specific laws on training including that relating to the use of abrasive wheels.
There is a direct link between PUWER 98 and the essential health and safety requirements (EHSRs) in the product supply Regulations implementing the EC ´single market´ product directives eg Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 (as amended) (SM Regulations).
APPLICATION/DUTIES (Reg 3)
(1) Regulation 3 places duties on employers, the self–employed and persons in control of work equipment and is designed to reflect HSW Act s 2 & 4 and aspects of 3. The application of PUWER 92 has been extended by PUWER 98 reg 3(3)(b) to cover ´persons in control´ of work equipment, but it is limited to the ´extent of their control´. PUWER 98 now apply to those who hire out work equipment (but limited to the extent of their control).
(2) Regulation 3 places duties on employers in relation to all work equipment provided for use or used. Therefore, it covers the situation where employers allow employees to provide their own tools.
© hse (Health & Safety Executive)
For further details contact: http://www.hse.gov.uk/
Record Keeping
Your protection in a Court of Law
The Regulations require employers to maintain their electrical equipment in order to prevent accidents. The majority of equipment defects can be found by a detailed Visual Inspection. For example a detailed examination by a competent person is likely to eliminate hazards caused by defective plugs or cable damage, or other signs that the equipment´s condition is defective in some way and as a consequence a danger to users and others.
Formal Visual Inspection alone will not identify all dangerous faults, therefore a Formal Visual Inspection needs to be accompanied by an Electrical Test (a PAT Test using what is commonly known as a PAT Tester) to reveal less obvious electrical faults such as earth continuity and resistance, insulation integrity, earth leakage and overload conditions.
Detailed test records are therefore essential and the only effective method for the duty holder to prove that appropriate measures have been taken to avoid accidents in the place of work. Therefore in the unfortunate event of an electrical accident such records may be the only defence of the employer in a court of law.
Getting ´Duty of Care´ wrong!
The consequences
Except where otherwise expressly provided in the regulation it shall be the duty of every (a) employer and self employed... to ensure the provisions of the regulations are compiled with in so far as they relate to matters within his/her control. Those duties fall into two categories: reasonable practicable and absolute. Both are well established in Law and have far reaching consequences for both individuals and companies: fines and in extreme cases imprisonment!
